EEOC Gets a Boost in Subpoena Power
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently won a victory in the Second Circuit that will significantly increase its ability to investigate employer practices on a nationwide basis. Although the case does currently have limited precedent in Georgia employment law, we will have to keep an eye on the Eleventh Circuit to see if that court will follow suit.
The case, EEOC v. UPS, Inc., No. 08-5348, 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 25395 (2d Cir. Nov. 19, 2009), overturned a lower court order that denied an EEOC subpoena which had sought national records from a company in which the case had only one Charging Party. That lower case had been relied on by a number of other employers to try to limit the EEOC’s subpoena power under those circumstances.